14 DAY TRIAL // After so many years of criticism, Microsoft has finally decided to pull the plug on Internet Explorer and implement a new browser in Windows 10, and there's no doubt that the company believed that this would be terrific news for its users.
Project Spartan, which will be called Microsoft Edge in Windows 10 RTM, comes with a new rendering engine, and in a post on the UserVoice feedback platform, users ask the Redmond-based software giant to allow Internet Explorer to access this rendering engine.
Why? The reason is as simple as it could be: Internet Explorer needs to live on because otherwise there would be plenty of compatibility issues, especially for companies that previously developed apps and services to be used with IE only.
“I believe IE should be able to use both the new EdgeHTML and the old MSHTML rendering engines. This would enable IE to support both legacy web applications, while also preventing stagnation in the browser, making it viable for everyday use,” the intro of the UserVoice request reads.
Until now, more than 4,000 people have voted for this request, and many believe that Internet Explorer shouldn't be discontinued but kept as an alternative to Edge.
Edge will be a universal app
Contrary to Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge will be offered as a universal app, so it will be provided on all Windows 10 devices, including PCs, tablets, and smartphones.
At first, Edge will be available alongside Internet Explorer, but Microsoft will remove it at some point in the future if Edge adoption goes well. Several new features for Edge are also being prepared and will arrive after RTM, including support for Google Chrome extensions, which can be used in the new Windows 10 browser with small tweaks.
Microsoft Edge will be offered as the default browser in Windows 10, but it's important to know that, for the moment, Internet Explorer will continue to be available in the final version of the OS.